Another Hollywood Landmark At Risk! The Warner Hollywood Theater – An Inside Look!

This is the interior of Hollywood’s famed Warner Hollywood Theater, which was opened originally in 1928 on Hollywood Boulevard.

Photographer Matthew Lambros captured all of these terrific pictures inside the massive theater – he was given access recently to show the beauty of the abandoned theater.

This is a beautiful movie palace, even though it’s obviously in disrepair, and “Curbed LA” has a great story about the status of the theater. While it looks beautiful on the inside, outside is a different matter:

As you can see from this picture from outside the building, there’s no hint of the gorgeous theater that is inside.

Here’s what it looked like in its heyday:

The Warner Hollywood Theater suffered damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and it closed soon after. It has sat vacant for years now.

According to Curbed LA:

“The venue has been in limbo since about 2013, and the uncertainty about its future has some preservation advocates and local stakeholders nervous.

The property’s owner, Robertson Properties Group, has said that too much work needs to be done on the building, and that restoring it isn’t financially viable, says Kerry Morrison, the executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance. Many, including the Los Angeles Conservancy, fear that the property is at risk of demolition.”

Bravo to “la.curbed.com” for the great story – see more pics and details here:

24 replies

One major problem of LA–having lived there for decades–is the abject lack of respect for history. It’s all about what’s ‘new’. Little respect for tradition. It’s all about the New. Therefore demolition in lieu of preservation. Preserve these two buildings–especially the Formosa.

I was a tenant in this building for close to 8 years, Robertson properties were the worst people to deal with and eventually shuttered my business at a great loss to all involved. They literally don’t care about the building and said so many times, let’s not forget this is the same company that tried to tear down the Cinerama Dome and ripped out the interior of the Cinematheque one weekend when ‘no one was looking’ it should be a crime.

To answer the question on my email. The M&C organ was removed by the LATOS and moved to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Due to some skulduggery on the LATOS Board and well healed individuals the organ was donated to the Phoenix Arizona Chapter of ATOS. After that I don’t know what the organ’s fate was. I believe that plans to install it there fell through.

Yes they both do – but they are not very proactive about this stuff, and many of the classic Hollywood haunts are destroyed before action is taken – this story in CurbedLA is designed to wake people up before its too late…

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